An AI-based mental health platform named Wysa has recently raised $20 million in a Series B round. this round was led by HealthQuad and British International Investment (BII). Along with these two, there were lot more investors including W Health Ventures, Kae Capital, Google Assistant Investments, and pi Ventures.
The mental health platform Wysa is planning to utilize the fresh capital funding in the following ways:
- To expand the treatment further in India, the US, and the UK, and
- Facilitating broader usability through multi-lingual support.
Wysa was founded by Jo Aggarwal and Ramakant Vempati in the year 2015. Basically, Wysa is an AI-based platform on which users with the initial stage of mental health disorders can communicate with the bot. then the decision is taken by the bot whether the user needs professional help, among other remedies, or not.
Wysa promises to have a user base of 4.5 million across 65 countries. Major problem like mental health disorders is faced by a wide range of populations worldwide including India. But due to stigma and lack of therapists and psychiatrists, people are not getting the proper medication for the same. By the help of the pandemic, people came across detailed awareness and discussion around depression and anxiety, among other issues.
Wysa has witnessed double the cases in the current year compared to the previous one.
EXECUTIVE OPINION:
"Wysa is developed in India and is marketed globally. The needs for Wysa are present all across, from high-income to low-income countries. Mental health triaging of patients using AI which is fast, effective, and non-stigmatizing for patients living in unaccepting societies answers a huge need in India, the rest of low-income Asia, Africa as well as the wealthiest countries of the world,” said Charles Antoine-Janssen, Chief Investment Officer, HealthQuad.
